Wolf Among Sheep
Popsicle of the Night Oai-sicle (Frozen Strawberry lime margarita) Announcements * SDCC - Kristin and Gil will be there The Story * The party makes it to Dragon's Tooth Ridge, so named due to the large spires of white marble. Grantham and Morbarom are no longer with the party, having found the use of their icons revolting * Dawnash is still on Hyllenae's back. The party looks towards the siege, Amalthea, using Dorian's spyglass, sees siege engines and people in red cloaks. Dorian asks her if she sees those "cultists" as well, referring to the ones in red * The valley of the siege is at least two miles in width. Amalthea sees that there is many more individuals nearer to them than on the other side of the breach, being held back by the large equipment * Hyllenae does not think that there is much that they can do about the battle, she wants to follow what Shalia said and find Ozabren within the keep. Jingles believes that if she can help talking to them, if she may have gotten any more information * Dorian goes up to Hyllenae and asks if they are going to be going in, if they know that Dawnash will be ok. She says that he will be, the worst of it is over. He then looks at Dawnash, who does not acknowledge. * Trixie wonders if she should go forward and scout, they decide she can when they get closer * They want to move closer to the keep while keeping stealthy. The party also wonders whether Dawnash will be ok. Hyllenae takes him off of her back and asks whether he will be ok, that they need him to snap out of it. He says that if he is unshackled, she need to be ready for what may happen. He wants to help, but is worried. She says that his demons are in the past, they are here right now * Jingles gauges the demeanor of the party for the situation. He has concerns about Dawnash's Katar and how dangerous it may be for one who does not see it coming, and if he attacks again, whether it will be from the verge of unconsciousness * Dawnash doesn't know what came over him, knowing their trust is not his to decide. Hyllenae takes his katar. Jingles tells him whatever he has buried, to make sure that it stays that way, otherwise he will not wake up again. * Dawnash takes out a healing potion and takes it * They discuss how to approach, with the more visible members. Hyllenae gives Amalthea the other scroll so that they can keep in touch * They have not seen many scouting parties around * They discuss possibly approaching at night, when the trebuchets are going off * They decide to rest for a bit, so they will be able to attack at about 3 am * The siege warriors are attacking with more incendiary ammunition in the trebuchets. Dorian suggests taht they don't light a fire tonight, to avoid drawing any attention * When the watch is starting, Trixie says to Jingles that she wants to go in and scout. He says that it is too far and she won't be able to get back in time if something goes wrong, and he can't go with her. He suggests that tonight she can look at the wall without the army of people. There are some people walking along, looking for weaknesses in the wall. He knows he can't tell her what to do, since she won't listen. He tells Mugsy not to be like her * Dawnash is perched on a rock for his meditation * Jingles tries to sleep wrapped in the carpet, but it is not restful, gaining exhaustion * Dorian and Hyllenae get up for their watch. Hyllenae asks Dorian if he had been in battle before, he has, being the only survivor and getting a promotion that he did not feel that he deserved * Dawnash wakes up to keep watch and Hyllenae and Dorian go to sleep. Amalthea is on watch with him, handing her the spyglass borrowed from Dorian. He is hoping to be able to find a leader or someone of rank among those in the siege. The people in the back of the siege are wearing the robes that make them look like barbarians. Dawnash says that she may be able to send Camille forward to look for a leader, but she cannot understand Common, but can see leadership. Amalthea uses Speak with Animals to ask her if she could go down and look for the leader and tell them what she sees. She says that she can and begins to head down, but is not very stealthy * Dawnash asks Amalthea about her Speak with Animals and how she learned. She says that she kind of just picked it up being in the wild for so long, but he does not think that works, since he was in the mountains for a hundred years. As the watch ends, two hours later, Camille still has not come back. Amalthea takes out the spyglass to check what is going on. They are still setting up battering rams. Dawnash suggests that Amalthea try calling out to Camille, so she howls just like a wolf, waking the others up * Amalthea looks down and sees none of the torches that she saw before. Hyllenae takes the spyglass and looks around the field, seeing small shadows moving and stopping * Dawnash holds his hand out to Hyllenae who waits a moment, then holds it. He asks her for the katar, though he enjoyed the moment, he then moves ahead, but the rest of the party doesn't go anywhere. He eventually comes back after Amalthea howls out to him and asks what the plan is. They wait there. Hyllenae gets hit with an arrow, Dawnash breaks it off * Initiative ** Amalthea takes 18 piercing damage from an arrow, then takes a shot in the general direction hearing someone getting hit ** Jingles is frazzled, his mustache in disarray, searches the ground for a rock, casts Light on it, and throws the rock in the direction he heard the noise, but goes no where near ** Dawnash yells out into the night that they are not there to interrupt whatever is going on, there is no need for violence, yelling out again that they should put their weapon down and they can talk about it ** Hyllenae casts Augury for Weal/Woe on the location, who these people are and what they want. They have hit the hornet's nest and they are upon them ** Trixie uses sleight of hand to drop something close by ** Dorian waits, Hyllenae says that they can't win this. A bunch of figures begin to pop up out of the sand around them, it is the red cloaked figures, they are running at them ** (break) ** One of the cutists calls out to surround the party and capture them. Dawnash says the cultists obviously speak common, Dorian says he only speaks one thing, pulling out his mace ** Amalthea turns back to the party and asks if there are any plans. She shoots an arrow into one of the cultists by her ** Jingles stares dreamingly over at Dorian, pats Mugsy on the head and Twin Spells Mage Armor on both of them ** Dawnash stands up and says that there need not be more bloodshed, putting up his arms, they are surrounded. He does not want to fight this fight, it is of no use. Hyllenae suggests that they let them capture them, Dawnash looks at his raised hands and nods a little. Hyllenae raises her arms as well ** Trixie tells Princess to be safe, puts her on Jingles' shoulders, then casts Invisibility on herself ** Dorian sees what is going on and takes his shield off of his arm ** The Cultists move forward. One of the cultists grapples Jingles says that he will come, but says that his assistant, talking to Mugsy, and asks him to get his "Dice", the caltrops, he goes off to get them. He is puled to the ground, face to the ground. Another attempts to grapple Amalthea, but misses. Another grapples Hyllenae, who doesn't resist, the cultists throws a net over the group by her ** Trixie looks for Camille nearby, sees other figures, but stays back ** Dorian stows his shield, puts out his hands and the cultists start t bidn him ** Amalthea takes out her sword and goes to slice the one who threw the net at her, cleanly cutting off his head, then attacking the other one and hitting him as well ** Jingles looks around to the people holding him down, he only really sees legs of another cultists coming towards him ** Dawnash sees Amalthea cut off the cultist's head, plucks the g-string on his lute, points a thumb at Trixie who he senses is hidden to give her bardic inspiration ** Hyllenae is being bound by a cultist as she is in the net. She looks for any identifying marks or tattoos. She sees tattoos, but cannot read the language ** Trixie stays quiet, picks up a rock and sees if it goes invisible and sees if the rock goes invisible ** Dorian is almost completely bound and gets pushed to the ground ** One of the cultists casts Hypnotic Pattern on Amalthea and causes a wonderful pattern to appear around her ** Another cultist goes over and ties up Dawnash ** Another cultist ties up Amalthea since she is incapacitated ** Mugsy is put in one of the cultist's hood and slung over a shoulder * The party is dragged into the battle as it grows louder and louder * The closest ram to the keep is on fire and abandoned, other troops are moving in and around. The party is thrown into a cage. The cultists are trying no way to try to get into the keep. Trixie is still sneaking around the area and trying to see what is. One of the individuals that was hanging gets his gut cut and intestines falling out * Trixie feels her form solidify and hides in between some boxes and crates * Hyllenae asks Jingles if he has seen the symbols on the cultist's tattoos before. He doesn't know what they mean, but has seen them before scribbled in the edges of the books from the necromancer * Dawnash is getting used to being in manacles * The PC's had all of their bags and weapons taken * Amalthea asks where Trixie is, various people tell her to not mention her, that she is probably doing better than they are * A cultist with red scarf around his mouth and black shawl pulls a man out of a cage nearby, the cultist seems to be the keymaster. The man being dragged away is dressed is tatters and rags, but seems to have been a soldier or someone of rank * Jingles suggests that they may be able to convince the cultists that they were just there for the promise of wealth and may join them. Dawnash suggests that they may skip the backstory since they have two paladins with them. Hyllenae suggests that maybe she and Dorian were sent to catch someone who stole form the Athenai temple. They discuss more the logistics of lying to the cultists * Some of the cultists may have been altered by dark magic * Amalthea rolls to the door and says that she is going to try to talk to someone there * Dawnash begins thrashing about yelling to get him out, he doesn't belong in there with these pieces of filth * The cultist that stopped tells them that they will be fed. Amalthea tries to say that they can have fun, Dawnash continuing to act crazy. Jingles asks what they are doing, they say it is none of his business, he asks what if he already knows, they panic and pull him out of the cage and he is taken over to the gallows. His ascot is taken off and thrown into the blood, which angers Jingles. They tell him to tell them what he knows * Amalthea tells Hyllenae that she saw Trixie * Hyllenae uses a 2nd level spell slot to cast Find Stead, trying to call it to create havoc. Trixie uses the havoc to cast Detect Thoughts * Another lit fireball flies from the keep and lands in the vicinity of the party, 32 points of fire damage, 16 on a save. Jingles uses Subtle Spell to cast Absorb Elements Characters * Helios - Hyllenae's horse, golden orange coat with golden mane Quotations "As the wise old storyteller in our village used to say, 'Trust, but verify.'" Jingles, Episode 24 @ 30:35 "It will most likely be a five..." Adam, Episode 24 @ 1:32:30